JAPAN: Faith-breakers’ Tactics Revealed in First-hand Account

| August 02 2011

Kidnapper and professional deprogrammer, Takeshi Miyamura, who held Mr. Goto captive for twelve and a half years.

Pastor Yasutomo Matsunaga, who helped confine Mr. Goto.

A 34-year-old marketing manager of Yamagata Prefecture, Japan recently returned to her local church center to collect her belongings after missing from the Unification Church for a month. Last seen leaving for her parents’ home on June 19, 2011, the Unificationist, who had joined the church in 2004, re-appeared July 22, 2011. She returned to the church center with her parents after having renounced her faith, according to Japanese church leaders.

The womans's name is being withheld to protect the Unification Church of Japan from lawsuits which could be launched by her family, and by anti-Unificationist lawyers who have a history of suing the Unification Church for millions of dollars. Although kidnapping and forced deprogramming is not as common now as it was in the 1990’s, more than a dozen cases take place each year, according to Japanese Church leaders. Unfortunately, in this case, the forced exit from the church was successful; the lady will likely be missed dearly by fellow church members. This case raises the question of what exactly could have taken place in the month she was missing that would cause such a devoted member to lose her faith.

Mr. Toru Goto, the best-known victim of abduction and confinement by paid, forced-conversion experts, was held against his will from 1995 till 2008. Mr. Goto in July presented one of several legal depositions regarding his 12-and-a-half year captivity to the Tokyo District Court, giving a vivid description of the psychological harassment that a confined person has to endure in order to keep one's faith.

In the course of Mr. Goto’s lawsuit against the men who tried to rob him of his faith, he described the inhumane tactics used by “professional deprogrammers” to force members of the Unification Church to recant their faith. These same tactics may have been the ones used to convince the above-mentioned sister to leave the Church in July.

Below is Mr. Goto’s deposition to the Tokyo District Court of the abuse he received while being held captive   [See http://religiousfreedomnews.blogspot.com/].

Goto’s Deposition In Court
“While I was confined in the apartment, they even didn’t tell me where we were. The transfer to another apartment was carried out at night, so it was difficult to identify where it was. At first, when I was taken to the Ogikubo Flower Home, I had no idea where I was. I asked my brother [who was assisting the deprogramming], but he refused to tell me where it was, saying, ‘You don’t need to know.’